Tag: Wayne Panton
Minister points to worrying trend at EU grilling
(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands financial services minister says there is a worrying trend in attitudes towards offshore financial services in Europe that would go well beyond concerns about automatic exchange of information and public access to beneficial ownership. Wayne Panton said some European politicians appear to be reverting back to arguments from the 1990’s […]
Call for direct rule ‘absurd’, says Panton
(CNS Business): Cayman’s financial services minister has dismissed as absurd the suggestion by the UK Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, that the British government should consider imposing direct rule on its overseas territories and dependencies if they do not comply with UK tax law. Corbyn was reacting to a massive leak from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which […]
Cayman details alternative to open beneficial owners register
(CNS Business): Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton has been in discussions with UK officials about alternatives to the controversial central public register of beneficial ownership that will still meet the British government’s transparency requirements for its territories. Panton updated representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) who visited the Cayman Islands on Tuesday about progress his ministry […]
Mac claims Panton is destroying offshore sector
(CNS Business): Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush has accused the financial services minister of failing to protect Cayman’s financial services sector because of what he claims are agreements made with the UK and plans to dismantle Cayman’s secrecy law. Bush has accused Wayne Panton of shifting his loyalty from his own country to the British government, as […]
Panton: Mac out of touch with reality
(CNS Business): Following recent comments by Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush on Facebook about new standards for the exchange of information introduced in Cayman, Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton said Bush was “completely out of touch with reality”. The latest Common Reporting Standard is not a UK initiative but the new global standard on automatic exchange of information […]
Minister disappointed over daylight savings U-turn
(CNS Business): Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton has said he is disappointed that the Cayman Islands Government will not be going ahead with the decision to introduce daylight saving time in March. The minister told CNS Business it was “unfortunate” that the opposition to the plan had mounted recently in the face of a jittery world […]
CEC added US $70M to local economy
(CNS Business): Cayman Enterprise City officials say that the special economic zone (SEZ) has attracted 60 new companies over the past year, that its impact to the local economy since its creation is nearly US$70 million and that there are now around 300 zone-based employees. Almost five years after former premier McKeeva Bush announced plans for a deal […]
Regulation of movie showings updated
(CNS): The local Film Control Board now has the authority to rate films being shown in Cayman, as the Film Exhibition Control Law (2015) came into effect 1 January. Cabinet has appointed Rita Estevanovich (chair), Tonie Chisholm and Andrew Ebanks to the board for a period of three years. The law also calls for the Department of Commerce […]
Register hopes for flurry of cruise ship business
(CNS Business): Commerce Minister Wayne Panton is hoping that the amendments to the gambling law that came into effect on 1 January will steer in new business for the shipping registry. As well as creating a lawful regime for raffles by nonprofit organisations locally, the changes allow for gambling on cruise ships that are registered in the […]
Panton battles latest blacklist
(CNS Business): Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton is still battling to get the Cayman Islands taken off the latest blacklist, maintaining that the inclusion of Cayman on the European blacklist of financial centres was completely inappropriate and misinformed. However, he said that stigma and the position taken by some nations on tax competition made the battle […]
New T&B regime kicks off New Year
(CNS Business): With the new trade and business licensing law coming into effect on New Year’s Day, local business owners will need to be up to speed on the amended legislation in order to avoid the increased fines. The goal of the law is to increase compliance rather than punish businesses but there are important […]
Central public register may be inevitable
(CNS Business): If public central registers become the global standard for access to beneficial ownership of commercial and financial entities then Cayman will inevitably have one as well, but the Cayman Islands will not go out on a limb and be the first, Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton has said. Cayman is now examining a […]
UK enforcement agencies to visit Cayman
(CNS): The UK is expected to send law enforcement officials to Cayman in the New Year to enhance the current cooperation regime between this jurisdiction and the authorities in Britain regarding financial crime and money laundering. Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton said that experts are coming at Cayman’s invitation to “improve on the collaboration” on global financial […]
Cayman Finance calls for more public cash to protect industry
(CNS Business): The promotion and protection of Cayman’s financial services industry is badly underfunded, according to the head of Cayman Finance. Speaking last week at the inaugural Members Briefing of the industry’s private sector umbrella organisation, Jude Scott, its CEO, said the local FS industry was in urgent need of proper funding by government to ensure it was able […]
Western Union reopens at Fosters
(CNS Business): The money transfer service firm Western Union has reopened for business at Foster’s Food Fair airport branch, the financial services minister has confirmed. Wayne Panton told CNS Business that as of 9am Tuesday morning, the service was back in business as a result of a new partnership and Fosters would be the agent […]
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